A lot of people think of the Constitution simply as a collection of pretty clauses. Others just pick up some favored phrases and use them as weapons in their ideological battles. Or a list of “thou shalt nots” constraining maybe themselves but, more likely, their opponents. Some perceive it as a message of legacy from the “Fathers.” Still others check further and conclude that it looks like the guidebook for an elaborate game. Or that it is the map for a heretofore uncharted territory where human relations take on a transformed character. Few may apprehend the obvious: This Constitution is the model that makes a new world, a distinctive world of political time and possibility (history and future) whose contours are difficult to see now because we are in it… Continue reading

COURSE No. 3:

“How the Founders’ Debate Continues Today”

As a political community, this country is united by its differences. How to achieve good government? We started out this way. And the debate continues. Constitutional America is configured by a foundational disagreement over how to achieve a common purpose. Leaders in public service are situated precisely at the juncture of this nationally self-characterizing contention… Continue Reading